geeks takes a brave pill on a marmite 4x4...
Discussion
What did you do at the start of the Jubilee bank holiday? For me it was a chance to head out and buy a car sight unseen from eBay. A 3 hour train ride from Huntingdon down to Margate and I was in the aforementioned vehicle. On paper its a good buy (providing you like them of course), full service history (and I do mean full, it includes the original order form and feedback letter from the dealer), copies of all the old MOT's, the original toolkit etc etc. So, what do we have then? I present, my newly acquired Vauxhall Frontera 3.2 V6 Auto in Krypton Green. Cosmetically its just superb for a 21 year old car. I found just one tiny scuff on it, no parking or trolley dings, the number plates are the original supplied with the car, underneath someone has gone to town, all cleaned up and undersealed with what I think is stone chip paint, it has obviously been done some years ago and could do with another clean and a fresh coat, something I will get to over the next few weeks or so.
The drive home gave me a chance to see what I had purchased in terms of the mechanicals, good news is the cruise and air con both work for which I was grateful for with a 3 hour motorway run home on a very warm day. The gearbox is smooth as silk, actually better than the auto in my E46 330. The speedo works, a common fault on these where the tracks dry out and the speedo will only work if the lights are on (I later found a receipt for the soldering repair where this fault had already been noted and fixed), the seats are very comfortable and also fabric/velour a throwback to when cars came without pleather and alcantara without paying through the nose for it, a smooth running V6 that was a little reluctant to rev at first however a good thrash through the gears and revving almost up to the rev limiter soon sorted that issue out (it had been used for short round town trips only for a couple of years) even the MFD known for giving up the ghost was still just about working (few dead lines excepted) and a CD player that was working just fine.
In fact the only issues I can find so far is that it wont go into 4WD, usually this is a case of perished vaccum lines, I can hear the solenoid firing when the button is pressed but the light flashes to indicate that its not sure that the front axle has been engaged, something to ponder and I will change the vac lines when I get a chance to see if that resolves the issue. The other issue is that the cruise control doesn't seem to like steep hills, could also be linked to the vac lines but also possibly a lazy/sticky stepper motor on the cruise throttle control. Neither issue are a deal breaker and usually not complicated fixes so really I am quite pleased.
Have some more pictures as a reward for getting this far...
Look at that interior, LOOK AT IT!
The engine is actually an Isuzu lump and pretty robust, I am told it would have put out about 200bhp when new, I suspect its still pretty close to that, lots of good mid range torque too.
T'is a little thirsty though
Getting ready for our first tip run!
All in all I am very pleased with it and handed over a sum of £1300 for it, feels a bit of a bargain all things considered. I should also say this is my 5th Frontera on the road (I have also got 1 for off road only a 2.8 diesel A series SWB with lots of offroady bits) my 2nd V6 and my first auto.
I am ready to receive your hate, as with most Vauxhalls of this era they are pretty well unliked, usually by people who just repeat anything Clarkson says or by people who have never driven one but occasionally someone who had one will pipe up with a good reason they do or don't like them. Over to you PH
The drive home gave me a chance to see what I had purchased in terms of the mechanicals, good news is the cruise and air con both work for which I was grateful for with a 3 hour motorway run home on a very warm day. The gearbox is smooth as silk, actually better than the auto in my E46 330. The speedo works, a common fault on these where the tracks dry out and the speedo will only work if the lights are on (I later found a receipt for the soldering repair where this fault had already been noted and fixed), the seats are very comfortable and also fabric/velour a throwback to when cars came without pleather and alcantara without paying through the nose for it, a smooth running V6 that was a little reluctant to rev at first however a good thrash through the gears and revving almost up to the rev limiter soon sorted that issue out (it had been used for short round town trips only for a couple of years) even the MFD known for giving up the ghost was still just about working (few dead lines excepted) and a CD player that was working just fine.
In fact the only issues I can find so far is that it wont go into 4WD, usually this is a case of perished vaccum lines, I can hear the solenoid firing when the button is pressed but the light flashes to indicate that its not sure that the front axle has been engaged, something to ponder and I will change the vac lines when I get a chance to see if that resolves the issue. The other issue is that the cruise control doesn't seem to like steep hills, could also be linked to the vac lines but also possibly a lazy/sticky stepper motor on the cruise throttle control. Neither issue are a deal breaker and usually not complicated fixes so really I am quite pleased.
Have some more pictures as a reward for getting this far...
Look at that interior, LOOK AT IT!
The engine is actually an Isuzu lump and pretty robust, I am told it would have put out about 200bhp when new, I suspect its still pretty close to that, lots of good mid range torque too.
T'is a little thirsty though
Getting ready for our first tip run!
All in all I am very pleased with it and handed over a sum of £1300 for it, feels a bit of a bargain all things considered. I should also say this is my 5th Frontera on the road (I have also got 1 for off road only a 2.8 diesel A series SWB with lots of offroady bits) my 2nd V6 and my first auto.
I am ready to receive your hate, as with most Vauxhalls of this era they are pretty well unliked, usually by people who just repeat anything Clarkson says or by people who have never driven one but occasionally someone who had one will pipe up with a good reason they do or don't like them. Over to you PH
RC1807 said:
Very rare nowadays, given tin worm put most of them in the scrapyard?
Good luck!
Yeah tin worm or headgaskets for the most part. The 2.2 petrol made the Rover K series look well behaved when it came to head gasket issues. The 2.2 DTi was known for fuel pump failure (though not as common as some people would make out, they weren't the ticking time bomb everyone tried to tell you they were) and the replacement was a real ball ache as you had to get the timing just right and finding the pump was a chore too.Good luck!
Mr Spoon said:
In fact so rare, I forgot these existed!
Good work OP
Thanks, yeah seems it's a Vauxhall that just passed by most and doesn't have enough of a following keeping the few left on the road. Not many come up for sale and those that do are by chancers trying to get "rare car money" for them.Good work OP
SteveR1979 said:
Ahhh
My dad had one of these when they first came out.
A 2.4 petrol I think, in fire engine red.
Horrific car!!
Ah yes the A series had a confusing array of petrol and diesel engines, the simplified it for the B series though, you could have a 2.2 petrol, a 2.2 diesel or a 3.2 V6. The 2.4 was a dreadful engine, well remembered My dad had one of these when they first came out.
A 2.4 petrol I think, in fire engine red.
Horrific car!!
2ZZ Top said:
Absolutely dreadful. Congrats! 
Thank you 
Om said:
Nice offroad barge.
Doesn't matter that its a Vauxhall. Anything in that condition, for that kind of money these days should be celebrated!.
Also, it's not as if it is a 1.4 Astra L...
Thank you, I am glad someone else "gets it!" Doesn't matter that its a Vauxhall. Anything in that condition, for that kind of money these days should be celebrated!.
Also, it's not as if it is a 1.4 Astra L...
seiben said:
Nice purchase Dan! I've found the arse end of Kent is a good place for used car bargains in the past - my old Grand Cherokee tow car was purchased from down that way for a fair chunk less than market value. I'm pretty sure most normal people CBA with the journey
Cheers Ben yeah the chap couldn't work out why he was struggling to sell it, I did suggest his location was probably the issue, either way it worked out nicely for me! How's the M5?Cambs_Stuart said:
If there is no rot then it's a bargain for £1300. How many owners has it had?
Yeah I was surprised at the lack of rot and the care taken underneath, given it's history though its been babied for the most part, for example up until 2018 all of it's servicing and work was conducted by a main dealer! After that it was down to a local specialist of the 3rd owner (weirdly just around the corner from where we used to live) I am it's 5th owner from memory. donkmeister said:
Good job! Remember when someone left one of these up on Snowdon? 
It's a badge-engineered Isuzu IIRC - it's never dawned on me until now about how many GM-Isuzu joint ventures there were; Vauxhall used Isuzu engines in some Astras and Vectras too.
Yeah I remember that, a SWB B series in Maroon if memory serves, sent all the 4x4 community (mainly the "one life, live it" brigade) all into a tizz It's a badge-engineered Isuzu IIRC - it's never dawned on me until now about how many GM-Isuzu joint ventures there were; Vauxhall used Isuzu engines in some Astras and Vectras too.
It is indeed mostly an Isuzu, lots of people grab parts from the Trooper for them, I have a set of 2" lift springs knocking around that should just fit straight on but can't decide if I should just leave it as it is.
Watchthis said:
Excellent purchase, been clearly looked after and for £1300 it's near as damn free motoring. Also, it's something a bit different from the norm. Well done
Watchthis said:
P.s. how many times have you whacked a shin off the towbar so far?
I really feel like I have lucked into a bargain for sure, not everyone's cup of tea but like you say a bit different, did catch one guy giving it an affectionate look outside Tesco. Not hit the towbar on my shin yet, but there is time for that to come Top Purchase - haven't seen one for ages and that looks in really good condition for it's age
I had a friend who had a SWB 2.0 petrol "Sport" Version from new years ago and I remember them being horrified by the abysmal mpg (no matter how it was driven) and performance was fairly poor too (didn't keep it for longer than 6 mths as it was costing way too much in fuel)
On this basis I reckon the 3.2 is probably the one to go for mpg wise as it least it has a bit of "get up and go" to justify the poor mpg
I had a friend who had a SWB 2.0 petrol "Sport" Version from new years ago and I remember them being horrified by the abysmal mpg (no matter how it was driven) and performance was fairly poor too (didn't keep it for longer than 6 mths as it was costing way too much in fuel)
On this basis I reckon the 3.2 is probably the one to go for mpg wise as it least it has a bit of "get up and go" to justify the poor mpg
85Carrera said:
What are these like off road? Presumably based on a GM 4x4 from the US?
They're pretty good off-road, they lack some of the toys of modern off roaders such as hill descent and have no traction control at all. The 4WD shouldn't be used on tarmac as the front axle is directly driven from the transfer (translation, no centre diff) but they have a low box and as my previous one can attest to, it went anywhere a Disco 1 and 2 went as well as retrieving Freelanders stuck in the mud so all in all, not bad I would say. They are based on the Isuzu Trooper underneath so share a lot of parts, they were sold in other countries as the Isuzu Rodeo or MU IIRC. Not much is actually a GM part on them beyond some of the electrics and some of the cabin bits, oh and the body I guess.B'stard Child said:
Top Purchase - haven't seen one for ages and that looks in really good condition for it's age
I had a friend who had a SWB 2.0 petrol "Sport" Version from new years ago and I remember them being horrified by the abysmal mpg (no matter how it was driven) and performance was fairly poor too (didn't keep it for longer than 6 mths as it was costing way too much in fuel)
On this basis I reckon the 3.2 is probably the one to go for mpg wise as it least it has a bit of "get up and go" to justify the poor mpg
Thanks BC I had a friend who had a SWB 2.0 petrol "Sport" Version from new years ago and I remember them being horrified by the abysmal mpg (no matter how it was driven) and performance was fairly poor too (didn't keep it for longer than 6 mths as it was costing way too much in fuel)
On this basis I reckon the 3.2 is probably the one to go for mpg wise as it least it has a bit of "get up and go" to justify the poor mpg
That will have been the A series then. I had one of those too as an offroad "slag" we affectionally called Violet after the colour. Was terrible on fuel and pretty slow, it used the XE engine from memory so a 2.0 8valve that was actually pretty bomb proof (even had a dizzy, remember those?) we had alot of fun with it over at Devils Pit and various other places but sadly it was stolen never to be seen again, the 2.8 TDi that replaced it was better in every way but has never felt as fun. The 3.2 is the one to have if you mainly intend to stay on the tarmac, they don't particularly like getting wet like the diesels but they are very happy slopping around in the mud and have plenty of torque for climbing hills
In none reply related news I fixed the 4WD system at lunch, a vac pipe had indeed perished at the end, cut, refit and boom in and out of 4WD without an issue. New vac hose ordered to replace the rest as it all looks pretty past it!
I had an early (and very tired) Sport many years ago. I quite liked it, tbh, but it was hardly the last word in reliability.
My opinion has always been that they're actually quite good for what they are, from a design perspective, but let down by being poorly nailed together on the cheap.
My opinion has always been that they're actually quite good for what they are, from a design perspective, but let down by being poorly nailed together on the cheap.
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